Recaps

After capturing two of the Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages, Li Lin and Nia investigated their strange abilities and humanlike behavior. Li Lin discovered that the Weapon Spirits’ souls were transplanted human souls, leaving him to investigate how the God of Justice’s followers had been turned into weapons.

• Nia let the unconscious Glorious Holy Light escape with his Weapon Spirit so the Temple would not focus more attention on the elven battlefield.
• Nalu awoke imprisoned, unable to use divine power or transform, while Nia reported that the Weapon Spirits behaved more like humans than weapons.
• Nia found that Nalu’s holy book contained divine spells from incompatible alignments, and alignment-detection spells failed on the captured Weapon Spirits.
• Li Lin decided to ask Catherine to test the book’s spells and examined the captured female archer, whose alignment also could not be detected.
• Li Lin entered the archer’s memories and saw that she had been a human believer who died before her soul was placed in a Weapon Spirit.

Li Lin confirmed that the God of Justice’s Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages were souls placed in constructed weapons, and he brought Catherine to Ringwraith City to investigate the young priestess and the sacred text. Catherine arrived while Angela was absent, and Li Lin postponed explaining the task until that night, leaving Nia and Catherine puzzled.

• Li Lin examined the female archer’s longbow and concluded that its soul could likely be removed with Soul Extraction, but he could not determine why its alignment could not be detected.
• Catherine told Li Lin that the death of a female councilor had stirred protests and disrupted the council, while the two military supply officers had grown distracted by their attempts to enter noble society.
• Catherine explained that Archangel Gabriel was occupied with the unrest at the Temple and that she had slipped away without drawing suspicion.
• Li Lin told Nia to take Catherine to a guest room and said they would discuss her task that night, surprising both women because Angela was absent.
• Suoxiate asked why Li Lin had sent Nia to accompany Catherine, and Li Lin explained that Catherine would feel less nervous with her than with the others.

Angela searched for a keepsake carrying Li Lin’s power so the professor could use it to locate him, then took the birthday ornament from the girl Li Lin had left behind. She left the girl with the knowledge that Li Lin was alive but beyond her reach, and the girl found hope to keep living.

• Angela left the group and headed to the city where Li Lin had once lived, hoping to find an object bearing traces of his power.
• Angela searched Li Lin’s ruined apartment but found nothing useful, so she went to the girl who had received his last birthday present.
• The ornament’s protective spell repelled Angela when she tried to take it, and she revealed that Li Lin was her master and was no longer in this world.
• The girl learned that Li Lin was alive and asked to go to him, but Angela warned her to forget him and threatened her.
• The girl gave Angela the ornament and asked her to tell Li Lin she would keep living and never forget him; Angela departed, leaving the girl with renewed hope.

Li Lin and Nia failed to discover how Catherine could cast spells from the holy scripture without changing her alignment, so they ended their research for the day. After spending the night with Li Lin, Catherine spoke with Nia about surrendering to desire, helping Nia reconsider her hesitation about acting on her trust in Li Lin.

• Nia said she still could not sense a connection between Catherine and the holy scripture, and Li Lin decided to keep Catherine’s unusual ability secret from the gods.
• Li Lin let Catherine stay after Nia left, and Catherine spent the evening with him.
• Catherine went to the garden in the sky, where Nia asked her what it felt like to be intimate with a man and whether she feared losing control.
• Catherine explained that she trusted Li Lin to hold on to her rational self even when instinct took over, and she told Nia that she trusted Li Lin in the same way.
• Nia reflected on Catherine’s words, and her lingering doubts gradually faded as Catherine left for her room.

Li Lin learned that Lalia had collapsed into civil war and left its factions and invading orcs to fight without advancing his undead army. At Ringwraith City, he assigned Catherine a Weapon Spirit to make loyal and ordered Anna to eliminate suspected Temple spies; one spy was killed as he left the academy.

• Li Lin found Lalia already splintering into civil war, with orcs invading after taking his suggestion, and decided to wait outside its borders.
• Li Lin had Catherine examine the holy scripture, then sent her with Nia to turn a Weapon Spirit into her loyal weapon.
• Suoxiate reported that fifteen academy students were suspected spies, and Li Lin ordered Anna to capture or kill them and obtain information.
• A young Temple spy decided to wait for a chance to spread the God of Justice's message through the academy.
• A cloud of black mist enveloped the young spy, and a floating dagger cut his throat before he could rejoin the other apprentices.

Catherine confronted the imprisoned Nalu, denounced the God of Justice, and began subjecting her to the same kind of abuse she had once endured. Meanwhile, Li Lin admired Yi Aier’s newly completed mobile fortress, a powerful weapon for his army.

• Nia left Catherine alone with the bound Nalu and provided a magical helper to assist her.
• Catherine told Nalu she had rejected the God of Justice and argued that he had abandoned his believers when they needed help.
• Catherine said Nalu would soon understand why she had changed, then used magic and sexually assaulted her.
• Li Lin examined Yi Aier’s giant spider-legged mobile fortress and praised its defenses, turrets, and support vehicles.
• Yi Aier was pleased by Li Lin’s praise and relieved that he did not raise the issue of her destroying the Weapon Spirits instead of capturing them alive.

Ten days after his defeat, Mobius remained consumed by guilt until Catherine encouraged him to regain his courage and prove himself. After he left, Catherine revealed that she intended to use him against the God of Justice and continued tormenting Nalu, demanding that she submit.

• Mobius brooded over the defeat that had cost him his weapon spirits and left three others dead, while Gabriel and Henderson kept their distance.
• Mobius went to the church to pray, but received no answer and feared the God of Justice had abandoned him.
• Catherine told Mobius that he had abandoned the god by surrendering to despair, and urged him to prove his enemies wrong.
• Mobius regained his resolve, thanked Catherine, and left to act as a warrior again.
• Catherine privately revealed that she meant to use Mobius as a pawn in her plan to destroy the kingdom.
• Catherine continued torturing Nalu and asked whether she would abandon the God of Justice and become her slave.

Li Lin agreed to intervene in the Kingdom of Serei after the Lady of Secrets revealed that someone important to her cause was there. He prepared to test new weapons and send the restored mages, while Catherine gathered resistance forces for a future confrontation with the God of Justice.

• Princess Shirley told Li Lin that several small countries demanded unconditional recognition of any territory they conquered, while Serei sought help taking White Dragon Canyon and the plains beyond it.
• Catherine explained that Serei had defied the Five-Nation Alliance and was rumored to have ties to the Magic Empire, though Nia said she had found no evidence of magic there.
• The Lady of Secrets appeared and urged Li Lin to help someone important in Serei and remember his duty to restore the world with the Great Book of Law.
• Li Lin decided to go to Serei with Yi Aier's new weapons and the restored mages instead of deploying the Scourge Legion.
• Catherine reported that resistance forces had gathered around the United Government, and Li Lin warned that the God of Justice might be preparing for another final battle.

Li Lin and Yi Aier deployed the Magic Empire’s mobile steel fortress toward Solid Rock Fortress, where Serei forces were stalled by Lalia’s defenders. The fortress emerged from the woods before the Serei commander and his soldiers, who realized this was the promised reinforcement.

• Yi Aier completed preparations for the mobile steel fortress, and Li Lin ordered it to begin its journey across the plains.
• Li Lin arrived near the ravine where he and the little one had once traveled, then set the fortress moving toward its destination.
• The Serei commander remained stalled at Solid Rock Fortress after Lalia’s defenders destroyed his siege weapons and repelled two attacks.
• Serei soldiers speculated about the Magic Empire’s promised aid, while the commander suspected it might involve undead troops.
• The ground trembled, and a scout raced back from the woods in terror as the mobile steel fortress crushed its way toward the Serei army.
• The Serei commander and his soldiers saw the enormous steel fortress and understood that it was the Magic Empire’s reinforcement.

A Magic Empire steel fortress destroyed Solid Rock Fortress and rescued the Kingdom of Serei, then Li Lin welcomed the Serei commander and asked about Serei’s history. The commander’s account of the kingdom’s founding and its new-moon worship left Li Lin wondering whether the woman in its founding legend had been a god.

• The steel fortress turned its magical weapons on Solid Rock Fortress and destroyed it in a single attack, ending the battle.
• The fortress turned toward the Kingdom of Serei’s army, but retracted its guns without attacking; the Serei commander then approached it with his soldiers.
• Yi Aier brought the commander inside the fortress, where he met Li Lin and thanked him for aiding Serei.
• Li Lin invited the Serei commander and his soldiers to dinner, then asked him to describe Serei’s history and culture.
• The commander told Li Lin that Serei’s founder had built a palace and statue in honor of the woman who had saved him, and that people prayed before the statue on every new moon.
• Li Lin wondered whether the woman in the founding legend had been a god.

Li Lin investigated a Serei legend and suspected the figure people worshipped was a god whose human form had survived. He agreed to visit the Kingdom of Serei, and the chapter left him preparing to fly to its capital aboard a Magic Empire airship.

• Li Lin reasoned that worship of gods’ human forms could stabilize their existence and suspected the figure in the Serei legend had once been a god.
• Li Lin promised the Serei commander that the steel fortress would aid the kingdom until it secured fertile plains in Lalia, then requested a meeting with the king.
• After Yi Aier questioned his trip, Li Lin said he might meet an old friend and waited for transport to arrive.
• The Serei commander sent elite soldiers to escort Li Lin, but Li Lin asked for only a guide because he would travel by other means.
• A Magic Empire flying ship arrived, astonishing the Serei soldiers, and the commander decided to accompany Li Lin to the royal capital himself.

On Mount Celestia, the God of Justice learned that five Weapon Spirits had vanished and that his Divine Envoys had failed against the returning Magic Empire. With his power and influence threatened, he decided to devise a new countermeasure against Li Lin and the empire.

• The God of Justice discovered he had lost contact with five Weapon Spirits and blamed the Magic Empire’s formidable methods.
• The God of Justice reflected on his failure to rise above the rank of greater god, his unanswered questions about the Great Book of Law, and his mounting conflicts in the Upper and Lower Planes.
• The God of Justice recognized that Li Lin’s victory in the Federation had shown him the Prime Material Plane was not under his control and could threaten his supply of faith.
• The God of Justice recalled sending Gabriel and the Divine Envoys of the Seven Commandments against the Magic Empire while pursuing political reforms in the Five-Nation Alliance.
• After learning that the Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages had failed, the God of Justice decided to change his plans and devise a new countermeasure.

The God of Justice recruited a powerful being imprisoned in darkness to travel to the Prime Material Plane and fight Li Lin’s Magic Empire. His ally agreed after confirming Li Lin was not the feared Arcane Mage Luoxia, while the God of Justice left confident that his new weapon would defeat the empire.

• The God of Justice visited a sealed cave on Mount Celestia and asked its imprisoned inhabitant for help, promising that his research could eventually fulfill the being’s wish.
• The cave’s inhabitant demanded to know whether the God of Justice had completed his promised work, and the God of Justice showed him an object as proof of his progress.
• The God of Justice explained that the Magic Empire had returned and asked the inhabitant to lead his people against Li Lin and the undead army.
• After hearing about the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, the inhabitant feared that Li Lin might be Luoxia, but the God of Justice assured him that Li Lin was someone else.
• The inhabitant agreed to help and to lead the God of Justice’s people and archangel against the mages, while the God of Justice departed confident that his ally would defeat Li Lin.

Li Lin negotiated an alliance with the Kingdom of Serei, offering a mobile fortress to help it seize Lalia’s plains and proposing improvements to its barren capital. During a visit to a memorial palace, he recognized the woman honored as Serei’s mother of the nation and realized she was the goddess whose help the Goddess of Secrets had sought.

• Li Lin arrived in Serei’s rocky capital aboard his floating ship and met the king.
• Li Lin and the king agreed that Serei would use a mobile fortress to occupy Lalia’s plains while staying out of Magic Empire territory, and Serei would help restrain countries plotting against the empire.
• Li Lin offered to send mages to improve Serei’s capital by enriching its soil and planting trees.
• Li Lin visited a memorial palace and saw a statue of the woman revered as Serei’s mother of the nation.
• Yi Aier recognized the woman as someone who had often appeared in Li Lin’s bed, and Li Lin realized she was the goddess the Goddess of Secrets had asked him to help.

Li Lin entered the palace at night to find the Goddess of Theft, Seliana, and recruit her to steal the Great Law Spell from the God of Justice. He freed her from a crystal prison, but before they could leave, he accused her of stealing something from him.

• Li Lin concluded that the Goddess of Theft was hiding beneath the palace and planned to wake her so she could help retrieve the Great Law Spell.
• Li Lin slipped past the palace guards and used magic to dispel the traps concealing a passage beneath the statue.
• Li Lin found Seliana's skeleton in a crystal coffin and used a magical crystal to restore her to life.
• Seliana mistook Li Lin for Luoxia, but Li Lin identified her and told her to leave with him.
• Seliana put on Li Lin's maid outfit and headed for the exit, but Li Lin stopped her and demanded that she return what she had stolen.

Li Lin learned why the Goddess of Theft had hidden on the Prime Material Plane and asked her to help steal the Great Book of Law. She warned him that the God of Justice might have used an unnamed power in the Magic Empire’s destruction, leaving Li Lin troubled by the possibility of another inevitable defeat.

• The Goddess of Theft explained how she had fled the upper planes, fused with her Divine Chosen, and later hid among the barbarians after the Magic Empire fell.
• Li Lin proposed that the Goddess of Secrets shelter the Goddess of Theft in exchange for her help stealing the Great Book of Law, and she reluctantly considered the dangerous mission.
• The Goddess of Theft warned Li Lin that the God of Justice might have used a mysterious power called “that” to conceal his role in the Magic Empire’s destruction.
• Li Lin questioned whether the God of Justice could truly control that power, while the Goddess of Theft admitted she had only heard rumors and suggested the Goddess of Secrets might know more.
• The Goddess of Theft tried to leave after offering to rekindle old times with Li Lin, but he demanded that she return what she had stolen from Yi Aier.
• The Goddess of Theft gave Yi Aier back her panties, which she had taken as a greeting.

Li Lin returned from the Kingdom of Serei with the Goddess of Theft and learned that the United Government had begun a counterattack while Catherine could not be reached. As he ordered a cautious response, Catherine and Gabriel faced a mysterious black-cloaked man whose power had helped the allied forces defeat the undead.

• Li Lin returned to Ringwraith City, confronted the Lady of Secrets over her failure to warn him that the God of Justice might use “that,” and handed the Goddess of Theft over to her.
• Nia told Li Lin that the United Government had retaken Broken Stone City and Sunwatch City, and that she could not contact Catherine.
• Li Lin ordered the undead armies withdrawn from distant positions, leaving some behind as bait, and told Nia to keep trying to reach Catherine.
• Catherine watched the allied soldiers burn the dead and questioned Gabriel about the black-cloaked man directing the United Government’s counterattack.
• Gabriel revealed that the God of Justice had ordered her to obey the man, whose power had weakened the undead, though his dark aura frightened her.

Li Lin identified the mysterious commander as the God of Justice’s otherworldly agent and planned to lure the combined army deeper into the undead-held Federation. Suoxiate delivered his orders to Catherine in disguise, and Catherine agreed to spread news of the army’s victories to draw the enemy in.

• Li Lin decided to surrender empty, contaminated cities and lure the enemy deeper before destroying them, especially the mysterious commander.
• Li Lin ordered Suoxiate to contact Catherine and have her spread news of the combined army’s victories; he planned to use an illusion of Angela as bait.
• Catherine reflected on her covert loyalty to Li Lin before Gabriel came to her room and revealed that she knew about their true master.
• Gabriel transformed into Suoxiate, who explained that Li Lin understood Catherine’s difficulties and instructed her to publicize the victories.
• Catherine recognized the plan to lure the enemy deep, voiced her concerns, and promised Suoxiate she would carry out Li Lin’s orders.

The expeditionary force captured a third city and grew overconfident as reports of victory spread through the United Kingdom. On the eighth day, a massive undead army attacked, led by a silver-haired girl who confronted the mysterious envoy, Catherine, and Gabriel as the battle began.

• Catherine and Gabriel waited while the expeditionary force debated whether to hold its cities or advance, then received reinforcements from the United Kingdom.
• The mysterious envoy led the expanded army forward and captured a third city, where his power and holy light made the undead vulnerable.
• Victory reports and the undead’s repeated failed assaults boosted the allied soldiers’ confidence, though some officers remained wary of the Magic Empire’s unobserved forces.
• Eight days after the city’s capture, a vast undead army appeared in a storm, and the envoy, Catherine, and Gabriel rallied the soldiers on the walls.
• A silver-haired girl with devilish wings challenged the humans, then sent the undead surging against the city walls.

After a successful defense against Angela’s undead, the United Army split its forces and sent the mysterious man on an offensive into the Federation. Li Lin revealed that the man had taken the bait, and the army reached the City of the Federation, where his trap was prepared.

• Catherine noticed that Angela’s undead had lost their speed and strength, and the defenders repelled the fifty-thousand-strong army with fire and holy power.
• Catherine reported the mysterious man’s ability to the council, dividing the United Government over whether he should lead an offensive or stay to defend.
• Catherine urged the officers to protect their supply lines, so Gabriel and the mysterious man led the main force onward while Catherine took a smaller contingent to scout and guard supplies.
• Catherine contacted Li Lin, who called the mysterious man a scavenger and told her to stay away from the front as his plan unfolded.
• Li Lin explained that Suoxiate had impersonated Angela and that he had lured the mysterious man into the Federation to keep the God of Justice from intervening.
• Over the next month and a half, Li Lin used staggered undead attacks and Suoxiate’s feigned retreats to encourage the United Army to advance until it reached the City of the Federation.

The allied army’s commander refused Gabriel’s warnings and pressed on toward the Federation’s capital to pursue Angela, while Catherine discovered a huge undead counterattack closing in on the expeditionary army. Angela, meanwhile, waited impatiently as the professor studied the objects she had brought him.

• Gabriel urged the commander to halt and consolidate, but he admitted he wanted revenge on Angela for insulting him and rejected her attempt to retreat.
• Catherine warned that the Magic Empire’s controlled undead might be part of a larger plan and continued patrolling the army’s supply lines.
• Scouts reported that five hundred thousand undead were converging on the Federation’s capital to outflank the allied army, and Catherine sent riders to warn it before assembling her troops.
• Angela demanded that the professor hurry, but he insisted on studying her recovered artifacts, and they traded insults before she backed down.

Li Lin’s forces lured the allied army into a desperate attack on the City of the Federation, where a trap awaited the mysterious man leading them. Li Lin appeared and revealed that he had drawn the man, whom he called Godspawn, into a temporary mythal, leaving the confrontation poised to begin.

• Li Lin learned that Catherine was heading to the allied army and decided to face the enemy himself while his forces adjusted the undead advance.
• After learning that nearly a million undead threatened them, the allied officers debated retreating, defending their camp, or attacking the City of the Federation.
• The mysterious man ordered the allied army to attack the city, arguing that killing the undead Manipulator would make the undead army collapse.
• The allied army charged into the City of the Federation, broke through its defenders, and sent three thousand elite soldiers toward the Federation Council.
• At the council, Angela transformed into a maid named Suoxiate, who activated a temporary mythal and welcomed the mysterious man as her master’s invited guest.
• Li Lin appeared inside the mythal and called the man Godspawn; the man recognized Luoxia and the God of Justice, then erupted into black mist.

Li Lin fought the Godspawn with his Temporary Mythal, while Gabriel abandoned the battle and ordered the allied army to retreat. The survivors fled through the undead under Gabriel’s holy light, with the Godspawn still attacking Li Lin.

• The Godspawn transformed under the Temporary Mythal’s suppression and attacked Li Lin as Gabriel weighed whether to fight beside it.
• Li Lin deflected the Godspawn’s attacks, blocked its shadow monsters with magic, and destroyed them with a pillar of light.
• Gabriel flew back to the city and ordered the officers to abandon the failed operation and break through the undead defenses.
• The allied army, with 280,000 soldiers left, charged through the undead under Gabriel’s holy light while many at the edges were killed.

Gabriel’s allied army nearly succumbed to the undead until Catherine arrived and renewed their escape. Elsewhere, Angela chose to return to Li Lin’s world through a rift opened by the professor, while Li Lin defeated a Godspawn and began questioning it about its alliance with the God of Justice.

• Gabriel’s holy light weakened as the undead overwhelmed the allied army, but Catherine arrived and drove them back with her own radiance.
• Angela refused the professor’s offer to stay and help remake Earth, choosing instead to remain loyal to Master.
• The professor used the Root and Li Lin’s magical ornament to open a spatial rift, and Angela stepped through it to try to return to her world.
• Li Lin defeated the Godspawn with the Temporary Mythal and restrained it with chains filled with positive energy.
• Li Lin demanded to know when and how the Godspawn had begun cooperating with the God of Justice, and the Godspawn agreed to talk.

Li Lin questioned the Godspawn about the God of Justice’s past, learning that the god had vanished for decades at a time and may have visited the Astral Plane, but not why he attacked the Magic Empire. As Li Lin prepared to kill the Godspawn, a mysterious beam destroyed his Temporary Mythal and seemingly obliterated the creature, leaving him wary beside a vast crater and a small black speck.

• Li Lin pieced together the Godspawn’s account of its alliance with the God of Justice, the god’s unexplained absences, and his role in the Magic Empire’s destruction.
• The Godspawn suggested that the God of Justice had traveled to the Astral Plane, but could not explain why he wanted the Magic Empire destroyed.
• Li Lin decided not to release the Godspawn and prepared to kill it, but sensed unstable energy gathering overhead.
• A powerful beam shattered Li Lin’s Temporary Mythal and destroyed the Godspawn, while Li Lin escaped by spatial transference.
• Li Lin examined the devastated Council Square, noticed a black speck beside the crater, and heard a voice complain about a damned human.